Happy New Year

This is a list of the top ten posts for 2011http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif

1. Earthquake in Spokane? Yes Jan 25, 2011 230 page view
2. Roots Tech 2012 Mar 14, 2011 102 page views
3. Early Spokane Pictures online Jan 23, 2011 85 page views
4. Mozart Genealogy Jan 24, 2011 78 page views
5. EWGS Are you out there? Jan 16, 2011 71 page views
6. EWGSi Our new website explained Feb 7, 2011 71 page views
7. Walking with Ancestors 2011 Aug 27, 2011 58 page views
8. Images of America New Book Harrison, ID June 2, 2011 45 page views
9. Leonardo DaVinci at the Mac July 16, 2011 43 page views
10. 1940 Census more Details July 23, 2011 42 page views

Note None of these comes close to to most viewed post on the EWGS blog in 2011: Search Spokane Daily Chronicle July 2009 1839 page views (2011 count only)

New Year's Day Dinner in 1892 at the Davenport

In the wonderful book by Tony and Suzanne Bamonte, Spokane's Legendary Davenport Hotel, is a reproduced menu from the hotel for their 1892 New Year's Day dinner offering.  

COLD:  fresh crab, veal, turkey, mutton, corned beef, beef, pork, sugar cured ham, fresh lobsters, goose and boned turkey with aspect jelly

RELISHES:  Los Angeles comb honey;  California grapes, new celery, C.& B. chow chow, pitted olives, imported anchovies in oil, spiced chicken, hamburger aale, Caviara Russe, pickled eels in jelly, imported pate de poissons, Scotch kippered herrings.

SALADS:  chicken, potato, shrimp.

VEGETABLES:  asparagus on toast, Schnittohnen string beans, boiled-mashed-baked potatoes, potatoes in cream, beets, sugar corn, stewed parsnips, boiled rice, green peas, stewed tomatoes, mashed turnips, bowl of rice and milk, baked sweet potatoes, Lima beans, succotash, string beans.

PASTRY:  pies of all kinds,  jelly tarts,  homemade fruit cake,  chocolate-coconut-pound-sponge cake, cream tarts, lady fingers.

DESSERT:  English plum pudding with hard sauce,  vanilla ice cream,  strawberry or raspberry preserves, lemon ice, preserved pine apples, brandy peaches or cherries, peaches and cream, sliced pine apples and cream.

SOUP:  clam chowder,  macaroni.

FISH:  fried herring, tom cod, fried smelts, boiled sea bass with anchovy sauce, broiled fresh Spanish mackerel, broiled fresh shad.

BOILED:  capon with oyster sauce, turkey with egg cause, ox tongue with cream sauce, leg of mutton with caper sauce, brisket of beef with horse radish, sugar cured ham, pickled pigs head with sauerkraut, corned beef and cabbage.

ROAST:  stuffed turkey with cranberry cause, saddle of mutton, domestic goose and apple sauce, loin of pork, prime roast of beef with brown gravy, stuffed chicken, duck with currant jelly, lamb with mint sauce, suckling pig and apple sauce, saddle of venison, shoulder of veal with dressing.

ENTREES:  pillau of chicken a la creole, lobster cutlets a la Hollandaise, maccaroni a la cream, frog legs any style, pork chops breaded with sauce Robert, beef a la mode, tenderloin of beef larded with mushrooms, pate de foie gras aux truffles, venison steak with currant jelly, croquette of chicken aux petits pois, half grouse, fried calves brains with cream sauce, half pheasant, paupiette of veal with puree of asparagus, broiled quail on toast with bacon, pineapple fritters au rhum,  half spring chicken on toast, antelope chops with jelly sauce, eastern and Olympia oysters every style.

My first thought was how could one restaurant on one day offer such a wide variety in 1892? And my next thought was total aversion to some of the things listed (like fried calves brains with cream sauce?). But there was enough choice that I surely could have enjoyed a wonderful meal. How about you?

2011: Some Highlights

If a picture is worth 1000 words, then these two pictures show 1000 times how vibrant EWGS was in 2011. The top one is a Jerry Johnson photo taken on our fabulous Walking with Ancestors Day and the lower one is from our day with Dr. George Schweitzer learning Civil War causes and history. See yourself in either one (or both) of these photos??? Thank you, EWGS members and friends, for making 2011 such a great year and we all surely look forward to a surpassingly greater 2012!  Honored to be your president,  Donna

January Luncheon & Dues are now payable online!

Our webmaster, Diane B., is doing a whiz-bang-great job with our  www.EWGSI.org website. Have you clicked there recently???  When you do, you're in for a visual and educational treat.

Now would be a good time to click to our site for you can pick two flowers with one snip of the clippers...... you can pay your 2012 dues and register for the January luncheon right from the website using our PayPal account. Couldn't be easier!

PayPal new to you? Click to www.paypal.com and set up a free account. This is a really good and really secure idea. You register your credit card ONE PLACE and any online shopping or organization dues paying you do PayPal will pay them and bill your card........... PayPal is the only "one" with your credit card information.

So to conduct that EWGS business I mentioned above, click to our EWGS website, click to where you can register for the January lunch and pay your dues via PayPal. You'll be prompted to sign in to YOUR PayPal account to authorize this payment by them to your credit card. Viola and it's done. As they say on TV, "try it you'll like it," I promise.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you all.  Donna

Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from EWGS

In one week the day of the reason for the season will be upon us. To all who view this page, the Eastern Washington Genealogical Society wishes you warmth, comfort, security, health, happiness, family love and COOKIES wrapped and under your tree. 

1940 census..... good news as far as I'm concerned.

 

News Release

For Immediate Release

16 December 2011

Three Genealogy Powerhouses Join Forces to Publish 1940 US Census
 
SALT LAKE CITY—Three leading genealogy organizations, Archives.com, FamilySearch International, and findmypast.com, announced today they are joining forces to launch the 1940 US Census Community Project. The ambitious project aims to engage online volunteers to quickly publish a searchable, high quality name index to the 1940 US Census after it is released in April 2012 by the National Archives and Record Administration of the United States (NARA). The highly anticipated 1940 US Census is expected to be the most popular US record collection released to date. Its completion will allow anyone to search the record collection by name for free online. Learn more about this exciting initiative or how to volunteer at www.the1940census.com.

The 1940 US Census Community Project is also receiving additional support from leading societal organizations like the Federation of Genealogical Societies, National Genealogical Society, and Ohio Genealogical Society.

The population of the US in 1940 was approximately 130 million. NARA’s census images will not have a searchable index. The goal of the 1940 US Census Community Project is to create a high quality index online linked to the complete set of census images as soon as possible. The index will allow the public to easily search every person found in the census and view digital images of the original census pages. The collection will be available online for free to the general public at Archives.com, FamilySearch.org, and findmypast.com, the sponsors of the community project. This new collection will open access to family history research like never before for this period in the US.

“The 1940 Census is attractive to both new and experienced researchers because most people in the US can remember a relative that was living in 1940. It will do more to connect living memory with historical records and families than any other collection previously made available,” said David Rencher, Chief Genealogical Officer for FamilySearch.

The collaborative project will also pool the collective resources, know-how, and marketing reach of Archives.com, FamilySearch, and findmypast.com to engage and coordinate the volunteer workforce needed to deliver the ambitious project. Additionally, Archives.com and findmypast.com will make substantial financial contributions to make the 1940 US Census online name index possible and work with nonprofit FamilySearch to bring additional new records collections online—making even more highly valued family history resources available to the entire genealogical community.

Archives.com launched in 2009 with a focus on making family history research simple and affordable. Archives.com was recently awarded the opportunity to host the 1940 census for the National Archives as part of a separate project. Its involvement with the collaborative 1940 US Census project reiterates its commitment to the genealogy community and leadership in the space.

 “As a forward thinking company, we understand the critical importance the 1940 Census will have on US family history research. We are proud to be a primary sponsor of this community initiative, giving us another opportunity to take a leading role in the genealogy industry. We’d like to encourage and thank volunteers in advance for their essential contribution to this project,” said Matthew Monahan, CEO of Archives.com’s parent company, Inflection.

FamilySearch has developed an impressive global online community of volunteers over the past 5 years to help create free indexes to millions of the world’s historic records. The scope and size of the 1940 US Census Community Project will require tens of thousands of additional volunteers.

findmypast.com is one of a series of leading family history websites owned by the online publisher, brightsolid, which hosts over a billion records across its genealogy brands.   The company, which has been at the cutting edge of online family history since 2002, has a wealth of genealogy experience, including the recently digitized historic newspaper archive for the British Library (britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk

), which is set to digitize up to 40 million pages over the next 10 years.

“By supporting this ground-breaking initiative, we hope to capture the imagination of the public to bring millions of people together to create this remarkable document of, and tribute to, the Greatest Generation.  At brightsolid we are committed to making family history accessible for all and believe access to these records will transform the family history market in the US,” said Chris van der Kuyl, CEO of findmypast.com’s parent company, brightsolid.


About Archives.com

Archives.com is a leading family history website that makes discovering family history simple and affordable. The company has assembled more than 1.5 billion U.S. and international historical records in a single location, including vital, census, newspaper, immigration, military, and more. Archives.com is free to try for seven days, allowing anyone to explore the benefits of membership without risk or obligation. Archives.com is owned and operated by Inflection, a fast-growing data commerce company, chosen by the National Archives to host the 1940 Census. Find more information at http://www.archives.com/1940census.

About FamilySearch

FamilySearch International is the largest genealogy organization in the world. FamilySearch is a nonprofit, volunteer–driven organization sponsored by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Millions of people use FamilySearch records, resources, and services to learn more about their family history. To help in this great pursuit, FamilySearch and its predecessor organizations have been actively gathering, preserving, and sharing genealogical records worldwide for over 100 years. Patrons may access FamilySearch services and resources free online at FamilySearch.org or through over 4,600 family history centers in 132 countries, including the main Family History Library in Salt Lake City, Utah.

About brightsolid and findmypast.com

Since 1994, brightsolid group has been delivering online innovation and pioneering the expansion of the genealogy market with leading family history websites including the findmypast global network, ScotlandsPeople, GenesReunited, and britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk, together servicing over 18 million registered customers worldwide. The sites connect people via their innovative family tree software and deliver access to over a billion records dating as far back as 1200. Family historians can search for their ancestors among global collections, relating primarily to people with UK and Irish ancestry, of military records, census, migration, occupation directories, newspapers, as well as birth, marriage and death records.
 

News from Donna

I am in Salt Lake City attending the 27th annual Salt Lake Christmas Tour (where 93 folks from all over the U.S. have come to use this library) and have attended classes taught by "the" Thomas MacEntee and boy have I learned some pearls of wisdom.

Did you realize that you cannot (or should not) just grab and use images from Google because of copyright restrictions? But WikiMedia Commons is a site having millions of images that you can use without worrying about copyright.

Did you know about Blog Talk Radio? This is an every-Friday-night free genealogy radio talk show that you listen to via your computer. Thomas is the host and has various guests and topics. But since you might be sitting at your computer on Friday night anyway you might as well listen to this show...... http://www.blogtalkradio.com/

Did you know that to copy an entire sequential list you use SHIFT + your mouse to highlight the entire list. To copy only selected entries you use SHIFT + CTRL and select the ones you want. Does that make sense?  (I was doing it all wrong.)

Do you struggle to understand the online backup services? Click to Wikipedia and then "comparison of online backup services." This will take you to a chart comparing all the more popular ones. In the class, we all (including Thomas) pretty much agreed that Dropbox was our favorite.

Did you know that the heyday of city directories was 1840-1930, according to teacher Maureen MacDonald, "but the earliest one was in 1652 in New Amsterdam." Who would have guessed that?

Did you know, you MAC users, that Legacy says they are not and will never offer a MAC version of their program but RootsMagic developers are working on such a program??? Almost thou persuadest me to become a RM user........

Happy and Merry Christmas to you all and see you in January.   Donna

Wordless Wednesday Jeanne Holder & Friend

Former EWGS President Jeanne Holder at 2011 Ohio State Homecoming, with John Glenn

Spokane Falls 1883

Spokane falls, Spokane County, is situated on the line of the N.P.R.R. 161 miles from Wallula Junction, and contains a population of about one thousand. The location of this little city, on the left back of the Spokane river, at the falls of the same, from which it derives its names, is magnificently beautiful. No language that I can employ would fittingly express the grandeur of its situation. The water power furnished by the river is only equalled, and not excelled, by two other cities in the United States, ..... Fall River, Mass., and Minneapolis, Minnesota, which will in the near future attract capital for investment in manufactories. Nature and nature's God ordained that a manufacturing metropolis would be built on the present site of this city. Spokane Falls possesses many other advantages, being in the center of a large agricultural and stock raising country, with an immense amount of timber of the best quality. Many attractions are offered to the pleasure seeker who delights in beautiful scenery, and the disciples of Isaak Walton will find here the best trout fishing on the habitable globe. Business of all kinds is represented here, and the merchant and tradesman never have cause to complain, for they are never overtaken by dull times. The city boasts of good hotels, churches and schools, and everything else that goes to make up a happy and prosperous people. The Spokane Falls Chronicle, a weekly newspaper published by the Northwest Publishing Company and edited by A.K. Woodbury, is doing herculean work in the interest of the section where it receives its principal patronage.

I found this in an 1883 city directory in the Joel E. Ferris Research Library, Eastern Washington Historical Society Archives & Library, next to the MAC Museum while I was researching something else. Since it was so interesting to me, I thought it might would be to you too.  One note; in 1883 it was already SpokanE Falls??

Wordless Wednesday EWGS Programs & Classes

Miscellaneous from Donna

EWGS received a nice thank you card from the family of Agnes Harton. Agnes was a long time EWGS member and will be missed. The card is signed by her son, Dave, and he wrote:  "I must have 6-8 bins of geney (sic) stuff in my garage...maybe I will get to it when I retire."  My thought? Oh, Agnes, why did you leave a mess of 6-8 bins of stuff and not an organized legacy for Dave and your other posterity????? 

An article on our Spokesman  newspaper on 17 Nov 2011 explained that descendants of Stephen Liberty dedicated a marker at Liberty Lake that honors him. He was born Etienne Eduard Laliberte and moved to the west side of the lake in 1871; he had changed his name to Stephen Liberty sometime after 1862 when he emigrated from Quebec to the United States. Don't we enjoy these local history articles? Do we let our paper know that we do??

My eye caught a really sad bit in the "Found" want ads on 14 Nov; somebody found a box apparently containing the ashes of somebody!  "Found: "Naomi" born 4-6-1954, date of death 2-5-2008. A memorial box."  This was found way out on east Sprague; call Ana (509-315-9418) if this is from your family. Surely hope somebody does!

One of my favorite eating places is Azar's on North Monroe; their gyros are the bestest! While lunching there recently, I picked up a brochure to "Learn the Art of Bellydance."  Humm...... I have the belly but not the ethnic heritage for this activity. But I'll bet there are many of Greek heritage or interest who might??? 

Be sure to attend the December 3rd EWGS meeting at the downtown Spokane Public Library. We'll be showing a brand new DVD on researching cemeteries. Coffee, cookies and conversation begins at 12:30. Nearly free parking west down the Main Street hill.  Oh, and do bring your 2012 dues.

New Spokane Public Library Signs

Thanks Eva, Steve and the maintenance people that made the stands for the signs.

Did you know: Spokane County Library Offers Civil War Information?

Marking the 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War, the North Spokane County Library is presenting a long series of free programs pertaining to this topic.  Mark your calendars so as not to miss the remaining programs (the first 3 will be given by Dr. David Conlin, Associate Professor of History, EWU):

Wednesday, Dec 7th, 7:00...... "The Secession Crisis."  Why did Abraham Lincoln's victory in the presidential election of 1860 cause the seven Southern states to secede??



Sunday, January 15th,  2:00 .....  "Strategy & Politics in the Civil War."  Dr. Conlon will show how politics on the local, national and international levels influenced strategy for both sides during the Civil War.

Saturday, March 10th,  2:00 ..... "Slavery in the Civil War:  From Contrabands to the 13th Amendment."  How slaves and the institution of slavery played important roles in the politics of the Civil War.

Wednesday, May 16th,  7:00 .....  "The Unending Civil War."  How Americans in the North and the South have been fighting over the Civil War to this day.

Then there will be family events:

Saturday, November 12th, 2:00............  "The Civil War Reenactment Group Presentation." Members of the local Civil War Reenactment Group will come with their gear and their stories.

Wednesday, February 8th, 6:30 .....  "Civil War Genealogy."  Our own Miriam Robbins (a direct descendant of 8 veterans!!) will demonstrate how to find and use a variety of primary documents and online resources to research the lives of your Union and Confederate forebears.

Saturday, April 21, 2:00 .....  "Angus Scott Pipe Band's Kenyon Fields: Civil War Music."  In historic military costume, Kenyon will play Civil War drum and fife music and provide readings from the Civil War.

Now I don't know about you, but these programs sound fabulous to me! And I will be marking my calendar and planning to attend!

Spokane Area Legacy Users Group to Meet Wednesday, November 16th

If you are a Legacy Family Tree genealogy software user, or are simply curious about this genealogy software program, you may be interested in the Legacy Users Group (LUG), which will meet next Wednesday, November 16th, from 1:30 to 3:30 PM in the meeting room of the Shadle Park Branch of the Spokane Public Library at 2111 W. Wellesley. This meeting is free and open to the public. Regular attendees will take turns in the role of moderator for each meeting.  If you have more questions, please contact Donna Potter Phillips here.

View Larger Map

SPL offers FREE computer classes; did you realize?

Are you struggling with basic, beginning Internet "stuff" and perhaps you're too proud to admit it out loud? Well, the Spokane Public Library has come to YOUR rescue. Yesterday I picked up a flyer the basic computer classes for November and December:

Tues, Nov 8      Computer Basics      South Hill   1:00-2:30
Wed, Nov 9      Beginning Internet     Downtown 3:00-4:30
Sat, Nov 12      Beginning Internet     East Side    1:00-2:30
Tues, Nov 15    Beginning Internet     South Hill    1:00-2:30
Wed, Nov 16    Email                        Downtown  3:00-4:30
Sat, Nov 19      Beginning Internet     Shadle        10:30-12:00
Sat, Nov 26      Smart Searching       East Side    10:30-12:00
Wed, Nov 30    Smart Searching       Downtown  3:00-4:30
Sat, Dec 3         Email                       Shadle         10:30-12:00  (better be at EWGS this day!!)
Sat, Dec 10       Email                       East Side    10:30-12:00
Sat, Dec 17       Smart Searching       Shadle        10:30-12:00

The only prerequisites are that you must be able to use a mouse, a keyboard, and scroll bars and be familiar with using a web browser.  Space is limited, so it would be wise to call the branch and pre-register.

Think this might help YOU get over some of your fear of the Internet??

November 19th and Bits & Pieces

Our own Miriam Robbins (photo taken last summer at her birthday party) has stepped up and will teach the computer class on November 19th. The subject will be "Civil War Research: An Overview." You must be an EWGS member and you must register by emailing Miriam at kidmiff@aol.com. Sessions are 10:15-11:15 and 11:30-12:30.

Interested in Spokane history? How about the history of the Spokan Indians? John Alan Ross's new book, The Spokan Indians, is the 892-page result of his four decades of work on the subject. Cost for the book is $30; can be purchased online or at local bookstores (like Aunties).

The Spokesman Review carried a blurb about the need for photos of Washington veterans to accompany their memorial in Washington DC at the new Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Photos are needed for:  Air Force Col. Gallileo Bossio, or Deer Park;   Marine Pvt.1st Class Rocky Hanna of Addy; Army Pvt. 1st Class Melvin East, of Colfax; or Navy Lt. Cmdr. Edwin Koenig, of Spokane. If you have photos of these men, or know somebody who might, you are requested to contact www.vvmf.org/pafwan or call (800) 562-0132, option 1.

EWGS Does Nothing For Halloween

This is a Burning Bush in my back yard. It always "burns" about Halloween time and I call it my Halloween Bush.  It has nothing to do, really, with genealogy, except that it reminds me, as does the Halloween holiday, that our "wonderful" Spokane winter is coming and is a dandy time to re-dedicate myself to doing some serious study on my genealogy. The yard and garden is put to rest, the number of have-tos involving travel slows way down and what else is there to do........that's fun?

I invite you to the EWGS meeting on November 4th, downtown Spokane Library, 12:30........ with almost-free parking down/west on Main street. The program will be "Researching A Place Online." All of us have the situation of needing research knowledge or help "there" (say Georgia) when we live "here" (say Spokane) and this presentation is planned to help you deal with that distance obstacle.

Then our EWGS comptuer class (for members only) on November 19 will be the last one for 2011. Email Miriam Robbins (kidmiff@gmail.com) to sign-up for this class.

EWGS is there to inspire you, to help you, to guide you..... all that is necessary to enable you to have the skills to find those rascally ancestors. And with knee-deep snow outside, winter is a good time to dig into your genealogy...........and with EWGS help, you'll find answers!

Civil War Follow-up for EWGS

On Saturday, Oct 1st, at our annual Fall Workshop, Dr. George Schweitzer came from Tennessee to teach us all about the Civil War............ the causes, the depth of feeling on both the Union and Confederate sides, and then spent an hour teaching us how to research our Civil War ancestors. With this being the 150th anniversary of the Civil War (1861-1865) you will find that EWGS will be offering programs and emphasis on Civil War research.  (And please don't whine that YOU do not have any Civil War ancestors..... help your neighbor! your son-in-law! your cousin! Bet they do.)

Internet Genealogy  magazine for Oct/Nov 2011, page 6, had a nice, concise, blurb about Footnote.com's trasformatio to Fold3.  "Footnote.com, a preer destination for discovering family history records, recently announced it will now focus primarily on offering the finest and most comprehesive collection of U.S. Military records available on the Internet. And why not? The records that they are making available come from our U.S. archives.

Fold3 is a "subsidiary" of Ancestry.com and currently offers a free basic membership...... give them a try! And, by-the-by, the name Fold 3 derives from "the third fold in a traditional military flag folding ceremony.........." 

EWGS/SPL subscribes to Internet Genealogy and you can view this issue in the Genealogy Section of the downtow Spokane Public Library. Go down on a Tuesday whe EWGS helpers are volunteering.

ONE MORE THING:  At the workshop, somebody mentioned this new (new-to-me?) website:
www.civilwarprisons.com . There were some 150,000 Civil War prisons and this website is proposing to find and post names from all of them . Currently, only Andersonville, Cahaba and those from the Sultana Disaster are posted there. But might put this in your list of favorites and check back????

Spokane Area Legacy Users Group to Meet Wednesday, October 19th

If you are a Legacy Family Tree genealogy software user, or are simply curious about this genealogy software program, you may be interested in the Legacy Users Group (LUG), which will meet next Wednesday, October 19th, from 1:30 to 3:30 PM in the meeting room of the Shadle Park Branch of the Spokane Public Library at 2111 W. Wellesley. This meeting is free and open to the public. Regular attendees will take turns in the role of moderator for each meeting.  If you have more questions, please contact Donna Potter Phillips here.

View Larger Map

NeWGS 30th Anniversary

The 30th Anniversary of the founding of the North East Washington Genealogical Society was October 8, 2011. It was a nice sunny day and so I headed north on the new North Spokane Corridor, first time I have ever been on it. Arriving in Colville I stopped at the farmers market then headed for the Ambulance Shack near the north round about on 395. They started with a greeting from current president Karen Struve and then we headed for the cake and punch. They cut the cake in large pieces (not large enough as they had a lot left over) and we continued to talk to our fellow tablemates. Susan Dechant then did a power point presentation "Through the Years" on the history of NeWGS. Nancy Wright did a reading from the book the Last Bell (schools of Stevens County) and then we were to have a sing along, but time had run out by then, darn.


As the research person for EWGS I have interacted with a couple of people in the NeWGS on a regular basis, we try to help each other when the research moves to the area we each research in, so when I heard that the NeWGS was having a 30 year anniversary and that Susan Dechant was one of the founders of the NeWGS I decided I would go. Turned out another founder was Shirley Dodson the other person I regularly contact at Colville so I was thrilled that both Susan and Shirley and her husband Tom were honored with Lifetime Achievement Awards.


We at EWGS always complain that few people from the coast ever come to our meetings, and yet we do the same with other societies in our area.

EWGS 2011 October Workshop "The Yankees vs the Rebels"

Saturday October 1, 2011 the Fall EWGS workshop. The speaker Dr. George Schweitzer and his subject the Civil War. The workshop was at the Country Homes Christian Church at 8415 N. Wall in Spokane, Washington.


The first session was on the background and causes of the Civil War. Almost everyone knows that slavery and preserving the union were important causes, but he told of one I don't think I have heard before. The election of 1860 elected Abraham Lincoln, but it also eliminated the majority of Senators that the south had enjoyed since the Revolution.


He then went on to talk about slavery and the Constitution and the views of the founding fathers, Most did not want slavery and they tried to get it eliminated in the Constitution, but the southern states refused to sign if it mentioned slavery. My favorite quote was from Benjamin Franklin in 1789: "Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature, that it may sometimes open a source of serious evils", and of course 72 years later the Civil War starts "a serious evil".

Notice the hat above, this one is a Confederate cavalryman hat and now he is giving the Southern Interpretation for the Civil War. Dr. Schweitzer tells how god has made slavery in the south such an astounding commercial success he must approve of slavery. Also the slaves are much better off than the Negroes back in Africa, our slaves are guaranteed food, shelter, clothing, and care in their old age.
The south also said they entered the union freely and had every right to leave when they wanted.

Notice this hat above it is a Yankee artillery hat, and here Dr, Schweitzer was giving the Northern view, that the Union was meant to be perpetual and that god has done nothing to perpetuate slavery, but slaves in the bible were whites, so if slavery is in the bible it follows that there should also be white slaves owned by blacks. So the south fought believing god sanctioned slavery and the north fought believing god wanted a perpetual union.

This is after the break and while it is a bad picture of Dr. Schweitzer it is a good one of former EWGS President Ruby McNeil. In the Walking with Ancestors pictures I took all of those I took of Ruby were of her back

This uniform is a Confederate cavalryman, the yellow band on the hat signifies cavalry, he was a corporal two bars v shaped on the sleeve of the top. He explained companies of 100 men, regiments of ten companies and brigades.
He also talked about sources for researching your Civil War ancestor, and the fact that while the south lost the war they have won the records war, they have many more records microfilmed that the north.

Next was lunch, and a wonderful pot luck lunch, my sister and I brought a cherry-rhubarb pie and I guess it was well received as it disappeared quickly.

After lunch Dr. Schweitzer appeared as a Yankee Artilleryman, a sergeant. Three red stripes in a v on the sleeve signify an artillery sergeant. He then went on to tell about where to find information on your Yankee ancestor.

Dr. George Schweitzer comes to Spokane.

Dr. George Schweitzer is coming all the way from Knoxville, Tennessee, to spend Saturday, October 1st, with EWGS members, family and friends. I once drove from Spokane to Vancouver, WA, to hear the Good Doctor; I've heard him speak half a dozen times and he is ALWAYS the best. He's been to Spokane twice before but it's been a decade. This being the anniversary of the Civil War, he's coming to teach us more about that era in U.S. history and the records created and where to find them for our ancestors who participated in this great and awful conflict. I do hope that you will be in the audience.   Donna

WSGS 2011 Building Ancestral Bridges, Day 2

Morning came quickly and we had cereal and juice before heading to the Baptist Church for browsing the vendors and looking for the rooms we were going to be in later in the day. The first session was Patricia Walls Stamm in the Sanctuary. We headed for the Sanctuary and found a seat near the middle, but there was a cold breeze from the back, so we moved to the side away from the cold breeze. Patricia's first talk was Death has Many Faces on finding various ways to document a death. Patricia moves a lot during her talks and I took many pictures of the side or back of her head before I finally got this good one of her looking towards me.

Now comes the hard part of the conference the breakout sessions. Why are they so hard? Well the first section had five topics and I really wanted to go to four of them, but finally settled on Carol Buswell from NARA in Seattle on Immigration and Naturalization Records in the National Archives. She had handouts for all the census including the 1940 census. Each sheet showed all the columns on the census and what was supposed to be in that column. The class was full and several people brought chairs from the hall to have a place to sit.

Next Back to the Sanctuary for the third section with Patricia Walls Stamm, this section was Elements of a Useful Research Road Map. This was an interesting section on how to do research and what to do when you have found the documents you were looking for.
Lunch was next and it was a buffet dinner where you made your own sandwich and some condiments and side dishes to go along with it. Lunch also includes the Annual Meeting of the Washington State Genealogical Society, so the minutes of the last meeting, the treasurers report, and then some awards to genealogical society volunteers. Juanita McBride was one of two from Eastern Washington Genealogical Society (below). Dorothy Braithwait was the second but she did not attend. There was supposed to be committee Reports next, but the volunteer awards took so long there was not time, so just a quick message about next years conference September 7-8, 2012 at Port Angeles, Washington.
My committee report was to be I finished three counties this year Whitman, Walla Walla and Whatcom counties so the only county not in the WSGS Resource Guides is Snohomish county.


This is a picture of the whole group of genealogical society volunteers, congratulations everyone.

After lunch was two breakout sessions, and while each had five selections, I really was not a lot interested in the first group of five, but I picked the one by Linda Lind on finding the War of 1812 Veterans that died in Washington Territory. You would think they would be easy to find but most records do not list War of 1812 veterans. Linda did give a clue on finding a War of 1812 veteran, by using the Government Land Office Records, and searching for the person in the list of Land Patents. They do not have to be from Washington to use this database, but since it is online it is a quick way to find a War of 1812 Veteran.
The next breakout I wanted to attend two sessions, but picked Margie Beldin; Google; The Genealogist's Research Assistant. Margie is an excellent teacher and her session flew by so quickly you hardly knew you were learning so much so quickly.
The last session by Patricia Walls Stamm was Discovering Your Ancestors Neighborhood, another good session on local records.
Well hard to believe it was all over except the door prizes and while I was close a couple of times I did not win anything, but Jacque won a $25.00 gift certificate.

WSGS 2011 Building Ancestral Bridges, Day 1

My sister Jacque & I left Spokane about 8:30 a.m. September 16, 2011 heading for Richland, Washington and the 2011 WSGS Conference Building Ancestral Bridges. This was a fitting name for the Richland, Pasco and Kennewick area has many bridges crossing the Columbia River. We arrived about noon and leveled the mini-home so the refrigerator keeps working. We warmed up some frozen home made soup and some corn from our garden for lunch and then I headed for the WSGS board meeting at 3 p.m. since I am a committee chairman. After the meeting I picked up my registration paper sack with all the goodies the Tri Cities Genealogical Society had worked so hard to collect and put in all the bags.

This first picture is the Richland Baptist Church. I always thought the church I went to here in Spokane was pretty big, but this Baptist Church was really huge, the Sanctuary where Patricia Walls Stamm talked was bigger than my whole church.


When we arrived the vendors were busy setting up, and as these pictures show, were busy during the two days of the conference.


This was the opening Flag Ceremony by the SAR group from Spangle, Washington.

After the good buffet dinner, Patricia Walls Stamm gave the first of four talks; Social Networking for Genealogists where she briefly pointed out the major social working websites, Facebook, Linkedin, My Space, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr. While many of the WSGS board sat together I wanted to meet others so sat at a table away from the board and met Lee Smith one of the TCGS member volunteers that helped put on this conference. He also took many pictures of bridges around the area and they were used as centerpieces, and in the syllabus.

Spokane Area Legacy Users Group to Meet Wednesday, September 21st

If you are a Legacy Family Tree genealogy software user, or are simply curious about this genealogy software program, you may be interested in the Legacy Users Group (LUG), which will meet next Wednesday, September 21st, from 1:30 to 3:30 PM in the meeting room of the Shadle Park Branch of the Spokane Public Library at 2111 W. Wellesley. This meeting is free and open to the public. Regular attendees will take turns in the role of moderator for each meeting.  If you have more questions, please contact Donna Potter Phillips here.

View Larger Map

Dr. George Schweitzer coming to teach us about the Civil War on October 1st!!

The above group shows some of the many faces of Dr. George Schweitzer (except for the right hand.... think that is his daughter). This brilliant teacher is coming to EWGS on Saturday, October 1st, to teach us about the causes and reasons for the Civil War and how it really was from the northern and the southern viewpoint. I certainly do hope that you are planning to attend.......... click to the EWGS website (www.ewgsi.org) and access the registration flyer there. See you there!

Mama Tau....... nothing to do with genealogy!

Yesterday I visited Mama Tau, the white lion breeding farm here in Limpopo province, South Africa. It was like visiting Jurassic Park......... the lions are in 5 acre pens behind tall electric fences and you ride about in tall-barred carts. The skinny Afrikanner gent taught us all about their farm and the lions and it was most interesting. What has this to do with genealogy? Sorry, nothing........... don't think any of my ancestors were ever eaten by lions and certainly not white lions. Were yours????

Walking With Ancestors 2011 Red Tour

I was not able to sneak away from the Blue Tour long enough to take the Red Tour, but I hope I got all the names correct with the pictures.
This is the first one Debra LeGrand as the Herman Family


This is Sidney Chittum in the Hat as Rose Wright


This is Donna Potter Phillips as the Austin J. Bender Family almost hidden by the Red Tour Guide.


This is Max Rice portraying David Ennis a small boy that died after a fire cracker went off in his hand causing an infection that eventually killed him. He was also interviewed by the reporter for KHQ TV and did a good job.


The next picture of Pat Bayonne-Johnson is a much better picture.
This is Pat Bayonne-Johnson as Elizabeth/Benjamin Bennett Family


This is Pat Bayonne-Johnson sitting and talking to Janice Bueckers. I almost did not get a picture of Janice as we were closing up when I took this picture.
Janice Bueckers was portraying the Hattie/Curtis Parson family.


My mom worked for the Buckley Department store in Hillyard when she got out of high school, but the Buckley's in this section are not related to the Buckley Department Store.
This is Actor Dean Ladd in the red cap as J. Edward Buckley


This was the last one on the Red Tour John Caskey from Fairmount Memorial Gardens as David P. Jenkins



Be sure to also check out Walking with Ancestors 2011, Walking with Ancestors 2011 Green Tour, and the Walking With Ancestors Blue Tour

Walking With Ancestors 2011 Green Tour

I was able to sneak off of the Blue Tour long enough to take the Green Tour.
The first Actor was Jonathan Berridge as Seaton Mitchell a WWI soldier that died of influenza while in training camp seven days after WWI was over.
With Jonathan in this picture is tour guide Miriam Robbins. The other two Green Tour guides were Kristi Rice and Sarah Wasicek


The Second Actor was Bill Hire as John S. McWhorter.


The next actor was Carol Nettles as the Tanner family.


The next Actor was Jeanne Coe as Geraldine Critzer and a very interesting story about a murder.

http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif
The next actor was Dolly Webb as Alice and Henry Benton, Alice was a doctor.


The last actor in this group was Sarah Hoover as Anna Edberg, but she had left by the time I was on the Green Tour.

Be sure to also check out Walking with Ancestors 2011, Walking with Ancestors 2011 Blue Tour, and Walking with Ancestors 2011 Red Tour

Walking With Ancestors 2011 Blue Tour

The Blue Tour had four guides, Barbara Brazington, Bette Butcher Topp, Margie Beldin and me (Charles Hansen).
This first picture is Catherine Armstead as Henry and Kezia Brook.


About half way between the Brook's headstones and our next actor was the tombstone of Samuel Pool Weaver, the first President of Eastern Washington Genealogical Society. He served for two years and never attended a single EWGS meeting.
The next actor was Pat Meilbrecht as The Chaffee Family.


The next actor was Clair Brazington as Richard Mills a Minnesota soldier who's unit fought the Dakota Sioux in 1862 before heading for the Civil War.


I am really sorry I did not get a picture of John Wilson as Andrew Hallender.

This actor is Michael Chandler as Simon McLean. He was very lucky as the day he went to the cemetery to look at the grave a car with British Columbia license drove up looking for the grave of Simon McLean, turned out to be a grandson of Simon's brother, and he sent a lot of pictures and family information on the McLean family to Michael.


The last actor in the Blue Tour was Pat Ewers as Amanda W. Nichols.


Be sure to also check out Walking with Ancestors 2011, Walking with Ancestors 2011 Green Tour, and Walking with Ancestors 2011 Red Tour